Fightback concert in aid of grassroots venues postponed

The Fightback concert in aid of the campaign to protect grassroots music venues has been postponed.

Organised by the Music Venue Trust, the event had been due to take place at Camden's Electric Ballroom on Tuesday, October 17 following Venues Day 2017.

"With sincere apologies to everyone who has supported this event by buying a ticket, after a meeting today we have concluded that we have no option other than to postpone the Fightback gig," said a statement from organisers. "We have a large number of artists who have come forward wanting to be part of an event and support Grassroots Music Venues but, after much discussion, this specific date, for a multitude of reasons, has proved exceptionally difficult to bring together.

"Alongside this issue, we, as an organisation, are overwhelmed by a wave of potential venue closures and are struggling to give this event our full attention. In a straight choice between running this event or doing everything we can to stop a venue closing, we are always going to choose putting the venues first. We hope everyone who supports our work will agree that's the priority.

"Alternative dates and plans are being discussed right now, and we hope to announce an alternative event shortly. We want to do something exceptional you can be part of it, this specific day isn't the right day to do it, for the artists or for us. Please watch this space for some news that should, hopefully, blow your socks off.

Venues Day is unaffected by this announcement and will go ahead at Ministry Of Sound in London on Tuesday. An alternative aftershow event for delegates has been arranged and will be held at Omeara, near London Bridge.